Mechanically-operated bucket



March 14, 1933- v. s. FlREsToNE MECHANICALLY OPERATED BUcKE'r' Fil Feb 27, 1932 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 14, 1933. `v. s. FlREsToNE MECHANICALLY OPERATED BUCKET 1 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 14, 1933- l v. s, FIREsToNE MECHANICALLY OPERATED BUCKET Filed Feb. 27, 1932 4 Sheets-Sheet '5 March 14, 1933. v. s. FlREsoNE 1,901,555

MECHANICALLY OPERATED BUCKET Filed Feb. 27, 1932 4 Sheets-'Sheet 4 Y, www

Patented Mar. 14, 'i 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE VANCE S. FIRESTONE, 0F FREEPOBT, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 ARCADE MANUFACTURING" COMPANY, OF FREEPORT, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS MECHANICALLY-OPERATED BUCKET Application led February 27, 1932. Serial No. 595,619.

My invention relates more particularly to mechanism for scooping up loose materlal, such as sand, at one location, and discharging it to another,y and especially to such mechanism as incorporated in a dev1ce for use as a toy.

My objects are to provide a novel, simple and inexpensive construction of mechanism of the character above stated; to provide a construction whereby in the simple operation of an actuating member the bucket will be moved to filling position and there-- upon forced into the material to be moved to effect the charging of the bucket with a load of the material, and by an equally simple operation of the actuating member the bucket will be lifted and moved to the point of delivery and dumped; to provide a construction whereby no obstruction to the movement of the bucket to either filling or dumping position will be presented; and other objects as will be manifest from the following description.

Referring to the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation, W1th certain parts broken away, of my invention shown as incorporated in a toy.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the mechanism.

Figure 3 is a section taken at the line 3 on Fig. 2 and viewed in the direction of the arrow, showing by full lines the bucket and the actuating means therefor in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and by dotted lines the position occupied by these parts in moving from filling to dumping position.

Figure 4 is a similar view showing by full lines the positions assumed by the bucket and the actuating mechanism therefor, in the dumping position of the bucket, and by dotted lines another intermediate position of the bucket and operating mechanism.

Figure 5 is a broken enlarged detail of the mechanism; and

Figure 6, a view like Fig. 3 showing by full lines the bucket and actuating mechanism therefor in the positions they assume upon lowering the bucket into a position from which it is moved against the material to load the bucket, and by dotted lines an intermediate position of the bucket and actuating mechanism in moving from filling toward dumping position.

The support forthe bucket and its operating mechanism is illustrated in the drawings as in the form of a toy of the tractor type, the support being shown as constituting the body 7 of the tractor which is provided with shafts 8 and 9 to the ends of which wheels 10 and 11, respectively, are secured to extend at the outer sides of the body 7, each pair of wheels being provided with an endless tractor chain l2. v

The body 7 is shown as formed of two sections 13 and 14 of similar form fitting iatwise together at a longitudinal joint 15 therebetween and secured together by tie rods 16.

The sections 13 and 14 are provided with upwardly extending parallel spaced-apart plate portions 17 and 18 which rise from the base of the portion 7 and form a support for the mechanism by which the bucket represented at 19, is operated.

The bucket 19 shown is of the scoop type presenting a curved wall portion 20 terminating in a lip 21 at the open side 22 of the bucket, at which the .bucket is forced into the material to be moved as hereinaftei dcscribed,'and an inclined wall portion 23 which in the dumping position of the bucket inclines downwardly toward the opening 22 therein and along which the material slides out of the bucket in dumping.

The mechanism for operating the bucket comprises a shaft 24 shown as square in cross section and provided at one end with an actuating lever 25 located exteriorly of the space between the plates 16 and 17, thel shaft 24 and lever 25 being shown as a onepiece structure.

Mounted on the shaft 24 between th\ plates 17 and 18 and adapted to rock'on this shaft, is a yoke 26 comprising substantially parallel arms 27 and a cross member 28, the shaft 24 extending through the ends of the arms 27 adjacent the cross member 28.

The yoke 26 is provided with an arm 29 on the cross-piece 28 extending laterally outwardiy through a slot in the section 13 of the support 7, this arm being connected with the lower end of a coil spring 31 secured at its upper end to a lug 32 on the exterior surface of the plate 18, the arrangement of these parts being such that the spring constitutes a snap-over device operating when the yoke 26 is in the position shown in Fig. 3 to yieldingly resist the swinging of this yoke in counterclockwise direction in this figure, and when in the position shown in Figs. 4 and 6 to yieldingly resist the rotation of the yoke 26 in clockwise direction inthese figures, the swinging movement of the yoke 26 beyond the position shown in Fig. 3, under the action of the spring 31, being limited by the engagement of the yoke 26 with the body portion 7 and the swinging of this yoke beyond the position shown in Figs. 4 and 6, under the action of this spring, being limited by the engagement of the yoke with stops 33 on the plates 17 and 18.

The outer ends of the arms 27 are pivotally connected as indicated at 34 with the outer ends of arms 35 rigidly secured to the Wall portion 36 of the bucket and disposed angularly to the Wall portion 20, these arms being shown as parts of a yoke, the cross member of which is represented at 37, this cross-member being connected with the Wall portion 36 of the bucket.

The mechanism now being described also comprises at arm 38 containing a square opening 39 therethrough shown as of slightly larger dimensions than the cross-sectional dimensions of the shaft 24 and through which the shaft 24 extends, thereby affording a loose driving connection between the shaft 24 and the arm 38. The arm 38 which extends radially outwardly beyond the shaft 24 a greater distance than the arms 27 of the yoke, is pivotally connected at its outer end as represented at 40 with one end of a link 41, the opposite end of which lis pivotally connected, as represented at 42, with a lug 43 secured to the inclined Wall portion 23 of the bucket.

Referring now to the operation of the bucket-moving mechanism, assuming that it is in the position shown by the full lines in Fig. 6, rotation of the shaft 24 clockwise in this figure forces the bucket 19 at its curved side 20 along the floor to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 3 wherein it is fced into the pile 44 of material to be moved, the material entering the bucket through its open side- 22. In the above ref erred to initial position of the bucket and its operating mechanism, the yoke 26 inclines upwardly to the left in Fig. 6 as shown therein, the spring 3-1 tending to hold it in this position. In lthe rot-ation of the shaft 24 in clockwise direction from the position shown in Fig. 6, the arm 38,

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through the link 41, pushes the bucket along the 'door and into the material as stated, the connections of the arms 35 with the yoke 26 causing the latter to rotate clockwise in Fig. 6 in opposition to the tension of the spring 31 to a point .where the spring 31 passes across the airis of the shaft 24 whereupon this spring becomes effective for throwing the yoke 26 to the stopped position against the support 7 as shown by the full. lines in Fig. 3.

v one of the dotted positions of this lever) toward dumping position, the arm 38, by its connection with the bucket, through thc link 41, swings-the bucket at the pivotal connections of its arms 35 with the arms 27 of the yoke, upwardly to the left in Fig. 3the bucket and the parts operated by the shaft 24 assuming the dotted position shown in this figure, and the lever 25 inclining up- Wardly to the left Jin this figure away from the shaft 24 as 'shown by the other dotted representation in this figure. In this movement the arm 38 engages the cross-member 28 of the yoke 26 as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 3; and upon continuing the rotation of this shaft the yoke 26 is rotated in eounterclockwise direction in Fig. 3 against the action of its spring, 31, the bucket and its operating mechanism moving to the dotted' position shown in Fig. 4. Further continued rotation of the shaft 24 swings the yoke 26, by reason of the engagement of the arm 38 with the cross member 28 to a point where the spring moves to the right in Fig. 4 beyond the center of the shaft 24, whereupon the spring acts to throw the yoke 26 to the left in Fig. 4 to the stopped full line position therein shown resulting in the snapping of the bucket to the discharge position shown in this figure.

As the spring 26, in the position of the parts last referred to, tends to hold the yoke 26 in the full line position shown in Fig. 4, l

rotation of the shaft 24 in clockwise direction in Fig. 4 for returning the bucket to the full line position shown in Fig. 6 has no effect on the yoke 26, the arms 35 merely rocking on the upper ends of the yke 26 in the throwover action of the bucket effected ltjzlrough the shaft 24, the arm 38 and link The loose connection between the shaft and the arm 38 is provided for the purpose lOO of minimizing-shock to the hand of the person actuatingl the mechanism.

It will be noted from the foregoing that the complete cycle of operations above described are effected by the use of a single actuating member, namely, the lever 25 which byits movement 1n one direction along a relatively short path (of about 160 in the particular construction shown) moves the bucket from dumping position into a position in which it is projected into the material and loaded, and which by its movement in the opposite direction through the same path moves the'bucket from lling position to dumping position.

Furthermore it will be noted that the movement of the bucket is in a plane at right angles to the horizontal axis about which it rotates whereby the inertia of the load, vin swinging over the top of the machine, assists in emptying the bucket at the limit of its travel, and interference with the movement of the bucket by objects at either side of the machine, as would result in a machine in which the bucket operating mechanism rotates about a vertical axis to move the load from one place to another, is avoided.

It will also be noted that in the movement of the bucket from the full4 line position shown in Fig. 3 toward the dotted line position therein shown, the lip 21 travels upwardly through the pile 441 of material, thereby facilitating the loading of the bucket.Y

While I have illustrated and described a particular embodiment of my invention, I do not wish to be understood as intending to limit yit thereto as the same may be variously modified and altered Without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. Material-moving apparatus comprising a support, a bucket, a member rotatable on said support, means hingedly connecting said bucket with saidrmember eccentric of the axis about which said member rotates, a second member rotatable on said support, a link pivotally` connected to said bucket and to said second-member eccentrically of the axis of rotation of the latter, and spring means co-operating with said first-named member operating to resist the movement of said first-named member during a part of the movement of the latter to one position and resisting the movement of said firstnamed member during a part'of the movement of the latter in the opposite direction, said first-named member being movable automatically alternately into the two positions stated in the movement of the bucket toward filling position and toward dumping position, respectively by reversed movements of said rotatable member..

2. Material-movin apparatus comprising a support, a buc et, a member rotatable,

on, said support, means pivotally connecting said bucket with said member eccentric lof the axis about which said member rotates,'

a second member rotatable on said support, a link pivoted to said bucket and to said second member eccentrically of the axis of rotation of the latter, and spring means cooperating with said first-named member and operating to yieldingly resist rotation of said first-named member inthe extreme positions to which said first-named member is rotatable.

, 3. Material-moving apparatus comprising i' said first-named member during a part of the movement .of the latter to one position and resisting the movement of said firstnamed member during a part of the movement of the latter in the opposite direction, the parts being so constructed and arranged that said first-named member, in the movement of said bucket toward filling position, is moved to a position in which said spring means yieldingly resists the movement of said first-named member out of said position, said first-named member having a portion engageable by said second member in the movement of said bucket toward dumping position for moving said first-named member against the action of said spring means into a position in which said spring means becomes eiective to resistthe movement of said iirst-named member in the opposite direction.

4. Material-moving apparatus comprising a support, a bucket, a member rotatable on said support, means hingedly connecting said bucket with said member eccentric of the axis about which said member rotates,

. a second member rotatable on said support about an axis coincident with the axis about which said iirst-named member rotates, a link pivotally connected to said bucket and to said second member eccentrically of the axis of rotation of the latter, and spring means .co-operating with said first-named member operating to resist the movement of said first-named member during a part of the movement of the latter to one position and resisting the movement of said firstnamed member during a part of the move` ment of the latter in the opposite direction, said first-named member bemg movableA automaticallyr alternately into 'the two positions stated in the movement of the bucket toward filling position and toward dumping position, respectivel by reversed movements of said rotata le member.

5. Material-moving apparatus comprising a support, a bucket, a member rotatable. on said support, means hingedly connectin said bucket with said member eccentrlc o the axis about which said member rotates, a second member rotatable on said support, a link pivotally connected to said bucket and to said second-member eccentricallv of the axis of rotation of the latter outwardly from said last-referred-to axis beyond said means, and spring means co-operating with said first-named member operating to resist the movement of said first-named member during a part of the movement of the latter to one position and resisting the movement of said first-named member during a part of the movement of the latter in the opposlte direction, said first-named member being movable automatically alternately into the two positions stated in the movement of the bucket toward filling position and toward dumping position, respectively by reversed movements of said rotatable member. v

6. Material-moving apparatus comprlsing a support, a bucket, a member rotatable'on said support, means hingedly connecting said bucket with said member eccentric of the axis about which said member rotates, a second member rotatable on said support, a link pivotally connected to said bucket and to said second-member eccentrically of the axis of rotation of the latter outwardly from said last-referred-to axis beyond said means, and spring means co-operating with said first-named member operating to resist the movement of said first-named member during a part of the movement ofthe latter to one position and resisting the movement of saidiirstnamed member during a part or'- the movement of the latter in the opposite direction, the parts being so constructed and arranged that said first-named member, in the movement of said bucket toward iillin'g position, is moved to a position in which said spring means yieldingly resists the movement or said first-named member out of said position, said first-named member having a portion engageable by said second member in the movement of said bucket to ward dumping position for moving said iirst-named member against the action of said spring means into a position in which said spring means becomes eifective to resist the movement of said first-named member in the opposite direction.

7. Materialy moving apparatus comprising a support, a bucket, a member rotatable on said support on a substantially horizontal axis, means hingedly connecting said bucket with said member eccentric of the axis about which said member rotates, a second member rotatable on said support about a substan-l tially horizontal axis, a lever connected with said second-named member for actuatin the latter, a link pivotally connected to sai bucket and to said second-member eccentrically of the axis of rotation of the latter, and spring means co-operating with said first-named member operating to resist the movement of said first-named member during a part ofthe movement of the latter to one position and resisting the movement of said first-named member during a part of the movement of the latter in the opposite direction, said first-named member being movable automatically alternately into they two positions stated in the movement of the bucket toward filling position and toward dumping position, respectively by reversed movements of said rotatable member.

8. Material-moving apparatus comprising; a support; a plurality of levers pivotally mounted on said support; a bucket; a plurality of links each pivoted at one end to the respective levers and connected at the remaining ends to said bucket; the combined length of one lever and link being less than that of another lever and link and connected to the bucket at a point spaced below the remaining connection; means to actuate said levers to move the bucket alternately to filling and dumping positions; and means active during the last portion of movement to filling position to bring the lever and link of least combined length into substantial alignment whereby to cause the filling edge of the bucket to tip upwardly.

9. Material-moving apparatus comprising: a support; a bucket; a drive shaft piv otally mounted in said support; a lever mounted on said shaft to be driven thereby; a link pivotally connected to said lever and bucket; a second lever loosely mounted between its ends on said shaft; a link pivoted upon one end of the last named lever and connected to said bucket;`a member projecting from the remaining end of the last named lever into a path of movement of the first named lever toward a dumping position of the bucket; and means to actuate said shaft.

10. Material-moving apparatus comprising: a Support; a bucket; a driving shaft journaled in said support; a, lever havin driving connection with said shaft; a ling pivotally connected at its respective ends to said lever and bucket; a lever loosely pivoted on said support to oscillate between fixed limits; a link pivotally connected to the second named lever and connected to said bucket at a point spaced from the rst named connection thereto; a past center device alternately urging said second named lever toward its fixed limits of movement; and means to actuate said shaft.

ll. Material-moving apparatus comprising: asupport; abucket; anoseillatory driving shaft journaled in said suplport; a lever having driving connection wit said shaft; a link pivotally connected at its respective ends to said lever and bucket; a. lever of less length than the lirst named lever loosely pivoted upon said support for oscillation between fixed limits; a link pivotally connected at one end to the second named lever and at its remaining end secured to said bucket at a point spaced from the irst named link connection thereto; a resilient, past-center device alternately urging the second named lever toward its fixed limits; and means to actuate the drive shaft.

12. Material-moving apparatus comprising: a support; a bucket; a driving shaft journaled in the support for oscillation; a lever havin driving connection with said shaft; a l' pivotally connected at its ends to said lever and bucket respectively; al lever loosely pivoted on said shaft for oscillation between fixed limits to loading and dumping positions; a link pivotally connected at one end to said second named lever and secured at its remaining end to said bucket at a point spaced from the firstnamed link connection thereto; the combined length of said second-named lever and link being less than that of the first named lever and link; stop means to determine the limit of movement of the second-named lever in bucket loaded position with said lever in substantial alignment with its link; stop means for said second-named lever in dumping position of the bucket; resilient,

past-center means causin snap action of the second-named lever an link towards its fixed limits during the last portions of its said movements and stressing the same toward said sto means during reversal of movement of t e drivin lever; and means to actuate the drivin s aft.

VANO S. FIRESTON'E. 

